Under Armour CEO doesn't get why Silicon Valley startups are so happy to lose money

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank has one piece of advice for
young entrepreneurs: Go make the sale.

For many young companies, especially in Silicon Valley, being
unprofitable is considered a right of passage. Companies can burn
through cash as they build a great product, and making money
comes only after testing for a good fit. Twitter, one of the best
examples, has been public for more than two years and has
never been profitable.

Speaking at the festival South by Southwest (SXSW), Plank
argued that profitability is one of the most undersold things in
tech. At a tech conference the previous week, the Under Armour
CEO watched as startup CEOs joked about the lack of
profitability, and the crowd chuckled at it.

Plank, though, was shocked.

"And I'm going, what are you doing? Winning is cultural. Losing
money is cultural. If you get used to losing money, it's really
hard to stop," Plank said. "Go let the other guy lose money and
fail off."

Instead, Plank says that entrepreneurs need to push themselves
out of the safe testing mode while burning through money and
prove that they have businesses.

"Get out of the hypothesis mode, and go find out if your product
will sell. Is someone willing to take good, cold, hard cash
out of their pocket and exchange it for what you have?" Plank
said. "Go make the sale."